Review: MioFresh by Bambino Mio

You may remember back in July I reviewed the MioSolo washable nappy... And loved it! Well, at the time Bambino Mio also sent me a sample of MioFresh to try, but we were only a few weeks into our cloth journey and I decided that I'd let our nappies get some more use before putting it to the test.

The teacher in me likes to do everything at the end of the summer holidays, "before the new term starts". Why sanitising my nappies was important to me, three days before going back to work, I am unsure, but it seemed like a good time!

A couple of weeks back D and I were scratching our heads as our nappies seemed to only be lasting a couple of hours tops. We had initially put it down to the hot weather and E drinking gallons (she's the girl that finishes everyone else's drink at a playdate!), but this was getting silly. I was convinced that the nappies didn't smell 100% clean, but D was sure they were fine, so I took his word for it... And set to work on picking the brains of some of my cloth friends... After a lengthy conversation with one friend, it came to light that my choice of washing powder might have been the root of the problem. I knew you weren't meant to use fabric softener as it clogged the material, reducing absorbency, but I didn't know you couldn't use liquid full stop. Ah! So, last week, ALL the nappies ended up in the bath with some washing up liquid before being rinsed about 10 times in the machine and then washed with powder. Problem solved, hello absorbency! But I still wasn't absolutely sure that they smelled as good as they could... I guess these things take time, but this was my other reason for deciding it was a good time for the MioFresh.

So, yesterday, all our nappies, boosters and wipes were thrown into a big bucket for a soak. Following the instructions I added 15ml per gallon of water (I used 4 gallons) and left them while we went out for the day. I was expecting the MioFresh to have a smell - a good one, like pine, or something antibacterial - but it was completely odourless. After a good six hours of soaking I stuck the nappies in the machine to rinse, as per the instructions, and then for good measure added another 15ml to my normal non-bio powder and stuck them all in on a 60˚ wash (although MioFresh claims to be effective as low as 30˚!). When they came out of the wash, there was no smell. No washing powder smell, no pine, no lemony fresh, no nothing. And now they are dry on the line, they are still without smell. That to me is an indication of exactly how clean they are! No powder smell, no sanitised smell, just fresh. And, I'd go as far as to say they just look a bit brighter, a bit fresher, a bit like they have a new lease of life! 

The instructions on the MioFresh were simple and clear to understand, giving the method for hand washing, soaking and use in the machine. The instructions are also clear to stress that coloured nappies could fade with prolonged use of MioFresh, which is worth bearing in mind if your nappies are all brightly coloured with gorgeous prints! It is 100% chlorine free, for the eco-conscious amongst us and is antibacterial, deodourising, hypoallergenic, biodegradable... All words us mums like to see on products that are coming into contact with our babies skin. MioFresh retails for £4.60 for 750g, which would do 50 washes, or 12 soaks in 4 gallons of water... But I don't anticipate needing to do that for a while! I think that represents great value for money, especially as it's probably something you wouldn't throw in to every wash, to protect your colourful joy, and maybe just use once a month to give everything a good perk up. 

So, here's another product that I will buy, use and recommend. Us cloth parents know that our nappies aren't just nappies, they're an investment, and anything that keeps that looking and smelling good, in my opinion, is worth having, especially if it doesn't hurt the environment or my bank balance in the process. Thanks, Bambino Mio! 

E enjoying what my husband has declared
as his "favourite reusable nappy".

You can visit Bambino Mio here, or visit them on Facebook or Twitter. 

Bambino Mio kindly supplied the above products for free for the purpose of review, however all opinions are my own and completely uninfluenced by Bambino Mio or any other party.

Review: Miosolo by Bambino Mio

I am a lover of hand made, home grown and locally sourced. I love making, I love farm shops, I don't think you can beat a handmade card and I love supporting local business wherever I possibly can. So you can imagine my joy a couple of weeks ago when I discovered, not long into our cloth journey, that reusable nappy makers Bambino Mio were based right here in Northamptonshire, just down the road in Brixworth.

The joy and excitement multiplied several times when earlier this week a purple package arrived, and I am thrilled to be writing my first *official* product review of the Miosolo all in one reusable nappy along with MioLiners.

The first thing that struck me upon opening up my package was the amount of literature and information Bambino Mio supply. Information about products, information about where you can get help and support (from endless sources, it seems!) and also information about the nappy and how to care for it. There's simply no excuse for getting it wrong! That was a big tick for me, as I know how daunting the arrival of your first cloth purchase can be. 

First impressions of the Miosolo were good. The new Summer pattern is really cute, but remains gender neutral. That's really important to us - having put E into cloth quite late our stash of nappies will be used far more by any future children so we've been avoiding anything too girlie but this pattern definitely has cute written all over it. The stay-dry inner liner is possibly the softest thing I've ever felt; even my husband was lured into it's silkiness and gave it an approving nod. The poppers and velcro combination made it obvious that this nappy could really be tailored to any size baby, and even with the poppers undone we still have a lot of room to grow into. The clever pull-out tab absorbent core means that the nappy dries quickly (overnight in a muggy bathroom with no breeze!) but because it stays attached it's one less thing to drop as you remove the contents from the washing machine. I am excellent at loosing boosters somewhere between the machine and the line. Not this time! The pad is HUGE and there's enough space to add a booster in there as well for night time or heavy wetters. Bambino Mio make boosters - the Mioboost - that work with the Miosolo, available for £6.79 for three, but I don't see why you couldn't use a generic booster.

So, all was looking good and I was eager for E to wake up from her nap so we could put it to the test!

All our day time nappies are secured by poppers, which is fine until you have to contend with a wriggly toddler who is more intent on getting whatever she's just spotted out of the corner of her eye than having a new nappy put on. The velcro tabs made it just like putting on a disposable - really quick and easy. The velcro is soft but heavy duty enough  to be E-proof apparently... For now! The fit is great, the elastic around the legs is tight enough to avoid leakage but has enough give to stay flexible and not leave marks and the velcro fastening around the waist meant that there's no 'best fit' here, no gaps, no sagging. E was obviously very comfortable as she paraded about in her new nappy for ages before bottom bouncing down the stairs in it. A very happy test driver! The nappy didn't seem particularly bulky either. In fact, once she was dressed I don't think I could have told you whether she was wearing cloth or not.The nappy lasted a little over two hours before E needed a change. She is naturally an incredibly heavy wetter and in this current heat she is downing cups of water like it's going out of fashion, so in future I would definitely add a booster or two to the nappy to increase absorbency. I guess that's my only slight criticism, and perhaps I'd like the nappy to have come with an additional booster that gave me that flexibility... But it's a minor point and something that's very quickly remedied, and I'm really keen to dry the Mioboosts as I have read some excellent reviews about their absorbency. E was dry when I took the nappy off, the lining of the Miosolo had definitely drawn the moisture away from her skin. Although this time round the Mioliner didn't have to catch any mess, it was soft to the touch and stayed well in position despite a busy couple of hours. They're 100% compostable when wet and flushable when soiled, which to me is a great compromise if there's going to be a 'disposable' element to your reusable nappy. 

I did a little online research and the Miosolo is comparable in price to other all-in-ones/pocket nappies available. Priced at £15.99 (for patterns, £14.99 for plain colours) it's certainly not the most expensive on the market. Mioliners are £4.95 for 160, although there are deals to be had if you buy in bulk. Again, comparable to other brands and good value for money, in my opinion. Looking around I also realised that this is a brand of nappy that you can buy on the high street as well as online; pick them up on your Ocado or Tesco online shop or pop into Mothercare or Kiddicare. Go and have a look before you buy if you just don't believe that the liner of a reusable nappy could be so wonderfully soft... 

Overall, I just love the Miosolo. It looks good, it feels good, it fits well and it does the job! My only niggle is easily fixable. And best of all for me, it's a local business I can and want to support. I will be investing in some of these for our cloth journey. Top marks and a gold star from the teacher in me and thumbs up from this cloth convert family. Thanks Bambino Mio! 

You can visit Bambino Mio here, or visit them on Facebook or Twitter. 



Bambino Mio kindly supplied the above products for free for the purpose of review, however all opinions are my own and completely uninfluenced by Bambino Mio or any other party.

I'll shut up about this soon...

I. Am. Amazed.

Not only did our Little Lamb bamboo nappy look super cute (wish they didn't need a wrap though!) and angelic, with one extra booster it lasted ALL. NIGHT. 7pm - 6:20am. Amazing. With the wrap over the top it felt and looked secure and I much prefer the security of completely adjustable Velcro fastenings rather than poppers at night. They didn't lie when they said it was bomb proof.

I had to check the sheets I was in that much disbelief. There's only one brand of disposables that sees her through leak through and despite drinking HUGE quantities in the heat yesterday there were no leaks. AT. ALL.

Two successful nights. An extra two nappies saved from the bin and 28p in my pocket for the privilege. 

Did I mention I was a complete convert to cloth? Love. Love. Love.

These bad boys came in a trial pack of two with a wrap and some flushable liners, but that promotion seems to have ended now. Lots of other similar offers to be had! Go go! 

The Nappy Diaries

What glorious weather we're enjoying! This must be to make up for last year's wet wash out? I'm not going to lie, being at work at this heat is far from enjoyable, but the excuse to get out early and go swimming with E or get out in the garden is wonderful! With the good weather come pros and cons; the tomato plant has gone mad, the cloth nappies dry so very quickly... But my hay fever is getting me down and nothing seems to be touching it. Miserable Mama H. The good news is that E has spent a lot of time in her Charlie Banana swim nappy and it's safe to say that it definitely keeps the poo in! Hurrah! 

Aaaanyway, bunged up noses aside, we are settling well into cloth and it's safe to say I am 100% converted. Who'd have thought it!? This weather has definitely made the move easier, but I do wonder how I'll feel when nothing is drying quickly in the winter, but we'll go with it... The Little Lambs have had 4 or 5 washes now (even if we haven't used them all, like last week when we went away on Saturday morning we've shoved them all in to get them stripped as quick as possible) and there is a noticeable difference in their absorbency, which is great. E is drinking a lot in this heat and cloth is doing just as well as a disposable. I have ordered some boosters though, for car journeys and such and await their arrival. 

We seem to have gotten into the swing of them easily. My husband, who was skeptical about cloth to say the least had E up and wearing one before I'd even made it downstairs this morning, with no reminder. He even admitted that his image of cloth nappies was probably somewhat outdated and he hadn't realised how simple it could be! The first lot of disposable liners I bought were useless but today I tried some different ones which seem to stay in place FAR better. And are flushable. Double win.

Little Lamb had a UK sale on recently, so I ordered two bamboo nappies and a wrap in a trial pack to try at night. They've arrived today and are drying speedily on the line in anticipation of bedtime. There's only one brand of disposable nappies that's managed to see E through the night successfully so I am looking forward to seeing if they are as bombproof as they claim! I'll let you know how we get on! 

I've also been using washable wipes - it made sense if we had nappies going through - and I'm happy to report that although I don't seem to be able to clean up a poo with just one wipe, they're really no hassle at all! 

So all is well and E seems happy enough toddling about with a slightly bulkier bum. And she has the perfect weather to show off how cute her fluffy bum is because today is a strictly no clothes day!

Fluffy bottoms

I made the decision to make my daughter a part-time cloth bum this week. There are many reasons why. I say part-time because she's at nursery four days a week and nappies are included. And I'm going to get into the swing of it before embarking on night time too... But I have just ordered some reusable wipes! 

We plan on having another baby at some point in the not too distant future. I'm hoping that putting E in cloth will aid the potty training experience, and I'm hoping E will be on her way to dry at night by then, but also hoping that it'll save me a fortune in disposables and make me think more carefully about how I use the washing machine.

We have done our first weekend. I need a wet bag for out and about, but its been absolutely fine, and the nappies have washed brilliantly. I took advantage of this weekend's great weather to line dry and E looked super cute tottering about in the garden modelling her new fluff!

On recommendation from a friend, I bought 10 Little Lamb pocket nappies from Fill Your Pants (based up the road in Oadby, Leicestershire - remember I love to support local business!) for £68. Northants CC will let me claim £25 back too! I selected some different colours and they arrived the next day, which I thought was truly excellent service, and actually I recall it being the same when I ordered E's swim nappy from them. The nappies have two bamboo liners each and I can feel them getting fluffier with each wash. I understand it can take up to 10 washes for maximum absorbency. There are so many poppers on the front of the nappy it's impossible for them not to fit your baby. Aaaaaaand most importantly, it's really not the big deal I thought it would be. It's not stressful, it's not smelly and it might just give the bank balance a little break. Happy times! 

My fluffy friends always talked about how addictive this was... I'm already planning my next purchase!

I take it all back and eat my cloth-nappy... Nappy.